Sept. 12, 2001, brought unity to our country. We were united in our grief, our fear, our resolve. We weren’t Republican or Democrat; we were American. The new president, whose election was still being questioned by many, had the support of the entire country. We had been attacked, and even the most ardent supporters of the recount were ready to stand by the administration against a common enemy. The thought of politicizing the attack was unheard of. “Country first” was the rallying cry.

Flash forward eight years; another new president, another controversy over the legitimacy of his election (although this controversy is fueled by rich corporations and believed only by the radical right.) Another attempted attack on our country. On Christmas Day untold numbers of Americans, almost 300 from the plane and unknown numbers on the ground, were almost killed by another terrorist.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, otherwise known as the “underwear bomber,” failed in his attempt to blow up a plane over Detroit.

Other than the fact that the 9/ 11 attack succeeded and the Christmas Day attack failed, the other glaring difference in the two attempts is the reaction afterward.

Under a Republican president, Democrats put aside politics to support their president and their country–not because of any great leadership skills of that Republican president but because Democrats are, above all else, Americans first.

This time around Republicans can’t seem to muster the patriotism to do that. They just can’t seem to be “Americans first.” They are foremost and always “Republicans first.”

Pete Hoekstra, a Republican congressman from Michigan, immediately began using the near tragedy to raise money for his political campaign.

Dick Cheney blasted the Obama administration for treating the terrorist in exactly the same way the Bush/Cheney administration treated Richard Reid, the infamous “shoe bomber.”

John McCain is falling back on the failed Republican standby: Torture him to get more information out of him.

What happened to “country first”? And why are so many Republican voters so brainwashed that they go along with whatever un-American thing their leaders say or do without even thinking about it?
Sherry Jensen
Thousand Oaks